Abstract

OURSELVES ALONE refers historically to Ireland being an occupied and colonised country for centuries.‘Ireland is not like other European countries. It is, historically, a colonised country not a colonizer (some would say Northern Ireland still is a colony: (Miller, D. 1998: “Colonialism and academic representations of the Troubles” in Rethinking Northern Ireland: culture, ideology and colonialism, ed. D. Miller, first edn, Longman, Harlow, Essex, pp. 253-274)’.Its troubled history left its legacy of a ‘minority question’…. The issues of who belongs to the nation, the modes of belonging, within those borders or even the issue of who constitutes the minority, have all been intensely fought over.In Ourselves Alone four everyday scenes from the streets of Belfast and Dublin are rendered without ‘the other’. At a time of growing restrictions on international mobility, everything deemed not to be ‘indigenous’ in these images has been cut out with striking precision, from people and imported goods to businesses, neon signs and tree species, leaving behind a visible void.8x1000 posters with the cut-outs are pilled up. The visitor is invited to take them home for free.